Beginners and Beyond

I am scheduled to run my second marathon in 11 days (R 'n' R USA in Washington, DC). Right on schedule, my body is falling apart. Okay, that's a little (or a lot) hyperbolic-- I am having some pain behind my knee, I think it is one of my hamstrings. I know some of this comes with the territory (I know that taper is when aches and pains tend to pop up, often) but I am honestly freaking out slightly.

I have scheduled an appointment with a PT for Thursday and am icing and rolling in the meantime, and am taking at least a couple days off of running.

A cuople more details--the pain first cropped up on Saturday after about 2-3 miles-- I called it a day after 3.5. I had a 5K scheduled Sunday which I wasn't sure I should do, I woke up with no pain so I raced it (you don't need to tell me, this was probably not a good idea), felt no pain during the 5K, ran a few miles afterwards as a cooldown and it started hurting again about 4 miles in.

Does anyone have any advice, personal experience, anything to help calm my nerves a bit? I'm not worried about losing fitness, just worried about doing the right things so that I can run (not hobble through) this marathon.

I get hamstring soreness a lot and your PT should help you with some stretches and treatment to make it better. Hope it's nothing major. You're tapering so that could be why it feels all of a sudden like it's getting injured. Get it checked, get to 100% and rock that race.

Re: Graston-- looks like I would probably have to pay out of pocket for it; would have to do more research to figure out whether that's feasible for me.

From preliminary research, it looks like 2 weeks (4 biweekly sessions) is about the minimum amount of time required to see positive effects-- is that your experience or does it have immediate benefits? Should I wait till the PT appointment to schedule a Graston session or do it now?

(I should say, 2 days of (relatively minor) pain makes me unwilling to throw a lot of money at this-- I am nervous about the marathon but I also feel like there's a pretty good chance that it'll get better on its own)

It really depends on the extent of the injury. I've had just one graston appointment fix my hip pain. 3 appointments for a calf strain. 12+ appointments for my ITBS (which he said was the worst case he's seen). I've never had graston done and not seen big improvements. But the more serious the injury, the more appointments it takes.

But you probably have a better sense of if it's potentially injured or just an ache/pain that's taper madness. And if it's worth it to you to pay for the treatment. (for me it's done by a chiro and I just pay the regular chiro co-pay of $20 which is well worth it. I'm planning to go in 1-2 times before my marathon just for a tune up)

Re: Graston-- looks like I would probably have to pay out of pocket for it; would have to do more research to figure out whether that's feasible for me.

From preliminary research, it looks like 2 weeks (4 biweekly sessions) is about the minimum amount of time required to see positive effects-- is that your experience or does it have immediate benefits? Should I wait till the PT appointment to schedule a Graston session or do it now?

(I should say, 2 days of (relatively minor) pain makes me unwilling to throw a lot of money at this-- I am nervous about the marathon but I also feel like there's a pretty good chance that it'll get better on its own)

kristin10185

I race in SparkleSkirts

posted: 3/4/2013 at 2:46 PM

No advice, just popping in to say I hope you heal fast and can rock your marathon!!!

It really depends on the extent of the injury. I've had just one graston appointment fix my hip pain. 3 appointments for a calf strain. 12+ appointments for my ITBS (which he said was the worst case he's seen). I've never had graston done and not seen big improvements. But the more serious the injury, the more appointments it takes.

But you probably have a better sense of if it's potentially injured or just an ache/pain that's taper madness. And if it's worth it to you to pay for the treatment. (for me it's done by a chiro and I just pay the regular chiro co-pay of $20 which is well worth it. I'm planning to go in 1-2 times before my marathon just for a tune up)

I've got a $50 copay for chiropractic care, and am limited to one visit covered per calendar year

Thanks for the info, it is really extremely helpful to me. At this point I'm halfway between 'injury' and 'taper madness'; I think I'll at least give it a couple days to play out before I start making appointments beyond the first one with the PT.

No advice on the pain, but I hope it goes away on time! Congratulations on your 5k PR, great finish time! And good luck with the marathon!!!

PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013

Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013

4 years racing, 16 marathons, 16 BQs

RSX

posted: 3/5/2013 at 10:41 AM

I was going to recommend ART as it worked the best whenever I has hs issues, but 1 covered visit rots. However I have had luck with wearing knee sleeves for minor hs issues if it isn't too high up. I just pulled it above my knee. If you do that obviously test it now as sometimes I would try more than 1 type. Good luck.